Once Bitten
by CeruleanKiss
Summary: Pride and prestige. Friction and fear. Danger and desire. Bloodlust is just another form of lust, and lust is but one form of love. Once you are bitten, you can never go back.
1. Introduction

_'Who is the bad guy - the vampire who kills people and sucks their blood, or the survivalists who kill people to save their own lives? Is evil merely a creation of people? Or is there an evil nature? Or is it in the eye of the beholder?' - Quote by Lois Tilton_

_This work of (fan)fiction started out rated T (for Tora?) but I recently changed it to an M rating, due to the violence and suggestive themes. (And by the way, I do not condone any type of violent or manipulative behaviors in real life. There's a reason this is a work of fiction, folks.)_

_Starring: A sexy, vampire prince Usui pursuing Ayuzawa Misaki, a human woman from humble beginnings who kicks ass in the business world (the business world of vampire slaying, that is), a bloodthirsty Igarashi flexing his vampiric powers at any given chance, and, a randomly created OC of my choosing. Her name's Cecelia. She's pretty cool. Oh there's also a second OC, but who knows how long he'll last in this fic? The scary monsters are out for blood, you know ;)_

_Pairings: Usui/Misaki and Tora/OC_

_Warnings: Tora Igarashi being Tora Igarashi. Takumi Usui being Takumi Usui. (in other words, perverseness, power-struggle dynamics, and hilarity will ensue)_

_Genres: Supernatural/Drama/Romance_

_Disclaimer: Maid Sama! is a shōjo manga series by Hiro Fujiwara, whom I tip my hat to. And if she ever read this I would probably scream out of either pure horror or delight. Perhaps both, if that's possible._

* * *

Once Bitten

Part I

Introduction

...

**The Prince**

He wasn't entirely sure what the plan was here.

All he knew was, the girl he'd been watching for several months now had, quite literally, fallen into his lap.

She was running from _them_.

Usui's lip curled at the thought of those High Born animals getting their hands on such a lovely, headstrong maiden. The things they'd do to her...

He shook his head, knowing that there was no other option but to get her out of here, take her someplace safe. What else _could_ he do? He'd put too much time into following her, watching her, risking his life just to be near her. She was, after all, equally as dangerous to him as he was to her.

And yet, he had never once thought of hurting her. She had the kindest heart he'd ever seen, despite being so strong-willed.

Perhaps that's what intrigued him so much.

Perhaps that's why he'd become infatuated.

It didn't help that she smelled absolutely divine, too.

He ran his fingers over her raven tresses, snarling when he found a sticky trail of blood clotting there.

"I should kill them." He stated to no one in particular, his voice dry to the air, but his words ringing true with bitterness.

"Kill... who?" The girl stirred under his hand, and he froze. He hadn't thought she was awake. She had fallen from quite a height, and he'd only barely managed to catch her. It had been a lucky catch at that, too.

It was a good thing he'd been nearby. Then again, he was always nearby when it came to her.

"Why, the vampires, obviously." He answered her as if it were obvious, though his tone was slightly teasing. Licking his dry lips, he tried to ignore the fact that when she attempted to sit up, it put her breasts directly in his line of view. Her shirt was torn. There was a cut on her lower lip. She was trembling with the effort to stand.

Suddenly, she grabbed his free hand. He hadn't even been conscious of the fact that he'd raised it toward her face.

Their eyes met, and he wanted to melt into her honeyed gaze for the rest of his sorry existence.

"I'm not here to kill them," She rasped. "I'm here to make peace with them."

He blinked at her, and his breath would have caught if he had a working set of lungs. "What?"

Before she could elaborate, the woman collapsed forward into his arms, having finally lost consciousness.

...

**The Princess**

She was cold. Shivering, tired, sore, aching; and she knew she was being watched again.

Part of her had known about it for months now. The other part of her had been trying to ignore it, since she hadn't figured out quite what to do about it yet.

No doubt, it was the same creature as it always was. But what did he want from her? This man without a face. This presence without a name. A monster without motive. At least, without any motive to murder her.

Instead of that, he'd carried her, injured and bleeding, to God knows where. This place felt timeless, and far too quiet. Like a hidden dead zone, completely off the grid.

She had no idea how far they'd traveled, or how much time had passed. She did specifically recall the night air flying past, the strength with which he carried her, and his incredible resolve to not lick a drop of blood from her despite the fact that she was leaking like a broken faucet.

But there was a bandage on her head now, no doubt his doing.

Had he not swept her away from her encounter with the others, she would be dead.

For now though, she was alive... cold, but alive.

Barely.

"Sweet princess... Misaki... wake up."

He knew her name? She didn't remember telling him her name...

Cold. She was so ridiculously _cold_. Could he see her shivering? She had to stop. She couldn't look weak in front of him.

"Look at me." His voice called to her again, sweeter this time, a sound she couldn't resist.

Her eyelids fluttered upward, her vision blurry for a moment as she looked but did not see. She blinked. Blinked again. It took her a third time, before she was able to focus on the pair of eyes peering at her from a shadowed corner in the dark.

Glowing green eyes.

Like summer grass.

Like sun-soaked tea leaves.

Two deep, emerald pools of warmth.

"How are you feeling?" His voice floated toward her in the gloom, and some part of her wanted to reach out and physically touch it, it was so welcoming. Oh, to touch him... Feel him... Know and understand the person he was, rather than the monster the world - his comrades, or family, whoever - painted him to be.

"How are you feeling?" He repeated the question, a serious note behind it now that told her it was important for him to know. It was important for her to answer him - to stay awake and answer him.

What an odd thing for him to ask her, though. How was she _feeling?_ How about how was she still _alive?_ But, to answer his question...

She was no longer cold.

...

**The Prey**

Cecelia Russo came from a long line of gifted vampire slayers.

It was due to this family history of hers, that she found herself being recruited to the Japanese branch on the cusp of her 20th year of life, a little over nine months after graduating from the Academy in Rome.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't take cases outside of her jurisdiction - and her overprotective, Roman-Catholic father (god rest his soul) was most certainly rolling over in his grave from the moment she took the job to the moment she was no longer safe on familiar, Italian soil.

In her defense, however, Cecelia wouldn't be leaving her home if she didn't think she absolutely had to. This was a special case, she knew it from the moment she got the call from a very, _very_ desperate sounding Tokyo executive. Ayuzawa Misaki happened to be a highly respected woman in the vampire slaying business, and what's more, she was not the type to take extended leave from work without warning. In fact, she hardly ever took a break from work, having dedicated her life to it for the past several years now.

And yet, she'd been missing for three days. The Tokyo branch hadn't heard or seen from her in just over 72 hours, which was... more than suspicious at this point. In fact, it had everyone in full fits of hysterics, and the first 24 hours had been spent calling the top five best trackers and slayers in the world.

So, then, how did they end up with a 19-year-old woman fresh out of the Academy, coming to their rescue?

Well...

Gottfried Hahn of Berlin had 'gotten fried' to a crisp during one of his unorthodox experiments between humans and vampires, this time using himself as a test subject.

Nicholas Reagan was in the middle of a family crisis (rumors claimed his uncle had been turned, but the States were always filled with so many far-fetched rumors that no one knew what to believe anymore)

The Crown of London was having another rise of Jack-the-Ripper-type serial killers, and couldn't spare the time or resources.

President Ayuzawa was the missing person in question.

And Giuseppe Russo - a rotund, stern, and powerful Italian man who'd slain his fair share of vampires in his day, had been dead for half a year now, leaving his legacy to live on in his only daughter - Cecelia.

Though she preferred to go by Cece.

This is what she told the awkwardly tall man (or perhaps she was just awkwardly small), Kanou Sotarou, as he led her through the secret stronghold where all of Misaki's personal underlings, known as Seika's Slayer's, resided.

"Right, then... Miss... Cece." He cleared his throat, and pushed up his glasses. "You have your equipment with you?" He asked, getting right down to business.

She nodded. "I have everything that I need for tracking, though I couldn't bring weapons onto the plane..."

"No worries," He opened a large wooden door for her. The whole stronghold was made of wood, in fact - with fine carvings over the banister of the stairs they'd come down, depicting age-old wars between mankind and the dreaded creatures of the night. "We anticipated this."

Quirking an eyebrow, Cece walked past him into the next room and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

There were guns. There were knives. Cleavers. Throwing stars as big as her entire hand. Also, something that looked like a medieval torture device, and several other somethings that she didn't even know what to begin to do with.

"Um..." She tucked a long, curling lock of mahogany hair behind her tiny ear. "Do you have anything... small and simple?"

Mr. Kanou stared down at her, at a loss of words for a few seconds. "I-I'm not sure what you mean," He stuttered, confused.

"You know... something that's not too heavy, that someone like me," She gestured to herself, in all her petite, five foot tall glory. "Can handle easier?"

There was another pause as Kanou appeared to mull it over.

"You mean like a butter knife?" Someone joked from the far end of the room, interrupting them and startling them all at once.

Kanou's blue eyes flickered over Cece's head, and she took a moment to fold her arms angrily before turning to face whoever had spoken.

"Excuse you-" She began, but upon seeing who it was, she stopped short.

He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, and he was simultaneously swinging two sickle-shaped weapons in the air as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Cecelia recognized him, but from where, she couldn't quite place.

"Ah," Kanou cleared his throat again. "I didn't know... you had already arrived, Mahajan-san."

The other man grinned back, and stopped swinging the weapons. Kanou seemed to visibly relax, at that.

"Mahajan... wait," Cecelia swore in her native tongue. "As in Lakshay Mahajan? What are _you_ doing here?!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the darker man.

Lakshay Mahajan had a thousand-watt smile that shone like the stars in the night sky against his mocha-brown skin. His eyes were the darkest of chocolate browns, looking over her inch by inch as if she were a precious artifact he'd scoured the earth for. However beautiful he was, however, his attentions were not welcome. Mostly because he had all the attitude of a pig in heat and she was not looking forward to having his hands attempting to grope her ass again any time soon, like they had done at one of her father's many parties years back when she was just a girl of 17 and Lakshay a man of 23. After having escaped his parent's overbearing clutches, he had apparently been exploring his youth by traveling and meeting with all sorts of different people, mainly women. And then he had found himself in the beautiful capitol of Rome.

However, that is where his carefree travels had ended. After he had crashed one of the Russo's high-class parties, he'd promptly been sent back to India to face his responsibilities - and his family - but not before Cecelia's father had nearly murdered him for daring to lay so much as a finger on his only daughter.

"You seem to remember me." Lakshay's Japanese was broken up by his strong Indian accent. He slipped into Italian with his next words, his pronunciation only slightly better in that language. "I certainly remember you, Cecelia."

Ignoring him, Cece turned back to Kanou. "Why is he here?" She inquired sharply.

She nearly felt bad when she saw the tall man drawn in a deep, much needed breath of air to steady himself against her growing anger. "He is trained in multiple different martial arts, his mother is the so-called 'Vampire Whisperer', and we thought you might need the backup."

"You brought him all the way here to be_ my backup?_"

Lakshay shot her a look from across the room. "Didn't you travel further than I to get here?"

"That's not-" She shook her head. "I don't even know what to say, I was under the impression that I'd be doing this by myself and-"

"Well, we can't risk you getting taken by the big bad vampires, now can we?" Lakshay was crossing the room to her now, and when he smiled down at her again, she nearly went blind. "Besides, you'll need me. My mother's title has also become my own. I don't sway under a vampire's thrall and better yet, I can even put some of them under my own."

Cece pursed her lips, and looked back to Kanou. "There's really no one else to assist me in this? If I admit I need the backup, can I at least get someone less... irritating?"

"Well, there are others who would be able to help." The spectacled young man admitted slowly. "But morale has run rather low around here since the President's disappearance, and Mahajan-san is probably your best shot at survival."

Cecelia swore in Italian again. Lakshay smirked down at her, as if he were rather enjoying himself.

"So," The older man turned his gaze reluctantly to Kanou. "Where is it that the little lady and I will be going first? I assume you had a certain place in mind?"

"The last trace we picked up from our President," Kanou explained. "Was close to an abandoned historical site known as Miyabigaoka. But to give you fair enough warning, in that area, there is a coven of vampires known as the Elite. And they don't exactly... play nice."

Lakshay snorted. "When do the monsters ever play nice?"

Kanou's eyes narrowed. "I suppose you have a point."

"Hey," Lightly, Cece reached up and patted the blue-eyed man on the arm. "Speaking of points, I'm going to need some pointers before I head out."

"I think you mean 'we'," Lakshay attempted, and failed to interject when she put up a small hand to silence him.

"First off," She went on. "Does this 'Elite' group have any specific weaknesses, that differ from others of their kind?"

"No," Kanou's brow furrowed. "Nothing specific that we know of."

"Alright, then do you know which of them is the leader?"

"It's hard to get close to them," He admitted. "Most of our people have either disappeared or been found dead in the process... Getting too close is usually a matter of suicide."

"Don't worry, _mio caro_." Lakshay put a lithe arm down around Cece's shoulders. "I'll protect you."

Cecelia hissed, shrugging out from under his arm as quickly as possible. "I can protect myself just fine, _lo stupido._"

He smirked again.

She wanted to punch him, if only she could reach that smug face of his from where she stood.

"Ahem," Kanou cleared his throat once more, this time to gather the pair's attention. "But to answer your question, there was one person who was able to come back to us alive, babbling on about a golden-eyed beast... A monster more ferocious than the very animal from which he was so aptly named."

"Oh," Cece stared up at him, pleasantly surprised by the new information. "And what is this fierce creature called?"

"Tora. Surname Igarashi." His blue eyes darkened behind his glasses. "He's a dangerous one. Tricky, cold, and calculating from the reports... We can only hope Ayuzawa-san has somehow managed to avoid him, if she is in their territory somewhere."

"Hope, huh?" Lakshay spoke with a bit less of a smile on his lips now. "Hope is a tricky thing to maintain, in such dire circumstances."

Cecelia promptly elbowed him in the gut, causing him to bend over into a coughing fit as she smiled up at Kanou.

"Don't worry." Reaching up, she tapped the side of her temple with a finger. "I may be small, but I'm far more clever than those freaks. They're all the same, drunk on blood and power, while I remain perfectly sober."

"And I," Catching his breath, the darker man straightened up with a newly-applied smirk on his face. "Have my charming personality and muscular build on my side."

Cece's own smile fell in an instant. If only this nuisance of a man could get it through his thick skull, that she'd much rather take her chances alone with the vampires, than with the likes of him.

...

**The Predator**

"Oh, seven hells!" A thin, blonde woman cried out. "Why does the man have to be so irresistible? I almost don't want to kill him, he's too pretty, it wouldn't be fair to the world."

"Kaon, stop it. You're embarrassing yourself."

"Don't worry, I won't play with him..." She smiled something vicious, fangs flashing in the moonlight spilling in from the large windowpane. "Much."

"You're not to play with your food at all, witch." Li commented from where she leaned back against the wall, arms folded like a prim-and-proper lady.

"Don't call me a witch, bitch." The blonde shot back irritably, turning from the window to face the only other woman in their small group.

"What did you just call me?"

"Ladies, please." One of the boys tried to intervene - it was Tenryu, of course. Stepping in for Li's sake.

"No, wait." Tomu smirked as he, too, looked away from the window. "Let them fight it out. It's always hot when they fight."

"You do realize," Ichitaro's voice was incredibly small in the hugeness of the room they all stood in. "that one of them is your sister."

"Then _you_ fight with_ me_." Tomu turned to the other boy with a lopsided grin. "It's the fighting that gets my engine revving, not the matter of who's doing the fighting."

"Save it for our prey, idiot." Li snapped once more from her spot at the wall.

"Oh, like you have the right to boss us around!" Kaon hissed back, advancing on the sleeker woman.

"Enough."

She didn't get more than a single step, before a large hand had grabbed her by the collar of her dress shirt.

"Kaon." Tora sneered down at her, his eyes narrowed and his expression annoyed. "Sit. Stay."

Her pupils contracted. In an instant, she plopped down on the floor at his feet without anymore fuss, a dazed expression on her face.

Tora raised his gaze to the rest of the Elite, eyeing each of them in turn the same way a lion looks down on a pack of hyenas. "Anyone else?" He asked coolly.

No one moved. No one spoke.

"Good." Turning his focus back to the massive window, he quickly scanned the courtyard below for signs of the two trespassers. A moment later, he clenched his fists and sighed out his frustration. "Was no one keeping track of them?"

Tomu stepped around his enthralled sister, and peered through the window to Tora's left. "Did they see us? Or hear us, somehow?" He ventured to ask.

"It would be wise to get eyes on them again." Maki stated calmly, appearing suddenly at the window's edge. "Before they manage to find us."

"Split up, then." Tora growled, turning to face his coven with a shade of red pooling into the gold of his eyes. "But leave the woman for me."

Several of their faces fell, at that, but it was Tenryu who managed a meek, "But Li and I saw her first-"

Tora's expression darkened into that of a brewing storm, "I said leave her-"

"Well now wait a moment," Li mentioned casually, "Perhaps we can make a game out of it?"

Their leader gave pause for a fraction of a second. His ears perked at the sound of a challenge in her voice. "I'm listening."

"Whoever can catch her first," Li's eyes drifted down to Kaon, who was shaking her head, slowly coming out of her daze. "or the man... Gets to keep them. For whatever purpose they see fit."

Golden eyes, swirling with garnet now, glittered between shadows and moonlight. "Whatever purpose, you say?" Tora posed the question slow, and purposeful. His lips curled and sharpened into a grin, as his mind whispered to him the countless possibilities.

"There are rules about this." Maki was quick to remind.

"Fuck the rules," Kaon growled, standing up shakily as the paralysis on her limbs finally wore off. "That man is _mine!_"

She zipped off in an instant, the air rustling hair and clothing in her wake.

Tora merely motioned with his hand, and Maki fell away into the shadows, sneaking off to follow her and make sure she didn't make a mess of things, as she usually did.

The rest of the Elite looked around at each other, then back to where Tora stood.

He had a thumb pressed to his lips, thinking. The thrill of the hunt thrummed in his veins, his fangs were throbbing, and his eyes were thoroughly drenched in red at this point. Usually, he had more control over his instincts than this. Usually, the others did, too. He didn't know what or who it was, but there was a scent in the air tonight that was utterly _divine_.

He ran his tongue over the edge of one fang, then the other; longing to taste the source of it. To lunge and bite and tear and drink until he had had his fill.

No doubt, the entire clan was feeling the exact same way.

"Ten minutes." He finally allowed, giving a curt nod to the others. "And if I get to either of them first, I get to decide what we do with _both_ of them."

Three of them disappeared in a flash. Tomu, however, lingered just long enough to give him a knowing smirk.

"Well, well. This is certainly unexpected. You don't plan to just drink from them or simply kill them, do you?"

Tora eyed him from the side, before tucking his hands into his pockets and gliding up the hall as if he had all the time in the world to catch his prey.

"They may have something to do with the disappearance of our dear Prince." He relayed.

"And if they don't," Tomu called after him, his tone lower and deeper from the excitement of a possible fight breaking out. "or if they do, then what?"

"Then," Tora's gaze locked with the full moon through the window, and he chuckled in the face of the light. "who knows what I'll end up doing to them?"

...

**The Prey**

Under the coverage of trees, Cecelia abruptly turned and grabbed onto her companion's shoulder.

"Did you hear anything just now?" She whispered, ignoring the eye roll he sent her way.

"No, did you?"

"No..." Her dark eyes fluttered as a cool breezed washed over them. It swept her hair from her face, and carried her scent away with it. When she opened her eyes again, she was looking straight up at the highest point of the building they were approaching, where she swore she saw a figure standing in the window; a pale statue of a man.

* * *

_A/N: I know, I know. I shouldn't be starting something new, but I had fun with this, and it helped to get my creative juices flowing. This is helping my writer's block._

_I've always wanted to do a Vampire AU, and don't you agree that Tora Igarashi would make the perfect vampire overlord? Don't fight me on this. He already has fangs, he was made to play this part. Powerful, sexy, rich, pretty-boy Igarashi, on the hunt for a late night snack, a warm body to sink his teeth into... If that doesn't send a thrill through you, then I don't know what does. And then there's Usui taking stalking to a whole other level as a vampire, lol. Gotta love our beloved blond duo, no matter how much they hate each other._

_Due to the AU nature of this story, I might have taken creative liberties to twist some of the characters to be just a touch OOC. I think that certain characters would act somewhat differently as vampires rather than humans. Maybe I'm overthinking it though and none of the characters seem OOC after all._

_I might expand this story, Once Bitten, into an extended after-story called Twice Shy. If Once Bitten has the potential to grow, then Twice Shy will be born afterward. I'm not sure about it all yet, I'm kinda busy atm, and would have to juggle this idea with Rules of Engagement. But, this was fun! I will probably continue this for a few more chapters, making it a shorter fic compared to my others, depending on how the audience feels about it. That being said, feedback is greatly encouraged._

_Thank you for reading, lovelies! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat some leftover garlic toast now, with a heaping plate of last night's spaghetti._

_(and now I realize why I created an Italian OC for a vampire AU...)_

_CK_


	2. Prowl

Once Bitten

Part II

Prowl

...

She wasn't entirely sure if she could trust him.

Frankly, she didn't trust men in general, due to her own personal list of issues with her father. That was part of the reason she was in this mess in the first place - she hadn't trusted her Vice President enough, or Yukimura, or any of the other men on her squad, despite how hard they worked to please her. And she'd never put her female friends in any sort of danger, so sending Sakura or Shizuko was completely out of the question... actually, no, that wasn't quite right. Sending _anyone_, no matter their gender, was completely out of the question. After losing so many people already, she didn't want anymore deaths on her hands.

So naturally it had to be her who went this time. She would be the one to confront the Elite all on her own, and end the killings on both sides once and for all.

Except... well, that hadn't gone over in the way she had wanted it to, and she didn't quite know where to go from here.

'Here' being some sort of cave in the middle of who knows where? And with a man, no less. A creepy vampire stalker, to be precise.

"What is it that you're looking at?" Misaki finally decided to ask her rescuer, seeing as he'd been staring out of the opening of their cave dwelling for what felt like hours. The moonlight was spilling in, lighting up his handsome face in all the right ways, and she had been doing a mighty fine job of acting like it didn't phase her in the slightest.

But he seriously hadn't moved for so long that she wondered if he was even real anymore, or just a statue. How a person could stand so still seemed utterly impossible, but then she had to remember that he wasn't human, like she was.

In any case, watching him stand completely silent and unmoving for several hours had finally started to unnerve her enough to say something. Anything to break the awkward silence they'd fallen into since she had fully regained consciousness.

"...The stars."

Misaki blinked at his answer. "You're telling me," She said gruffly. "That you've been staring up at the stars for the past several hours?"

"It's only been an hour, at most." He finally turned his head toward her, his green eyes glowing as he searched her figure through the gloom. "How's your head feeling?"

Reaching up, Misaki touched numb fingers to the aching part of her skull. "It's fine." She spoke the lie automatically, out of habit. She wasn't one to allow others to fret over her.

In an instant, the boy was at her side. His own icy fingers were touching the spot on her head that hurt the most, and she flinched. A small, thin smile appeared on his face, and she immediately felt the urge to slap him.

"So stubborn." He chuckled, leaning out of her personal space before she could so much as raise her hand.

She frowned up at him. "I didn't say you could touch me."

"Sorry, Prez." His voice held that floating, lyrical cadence to it once more. "You're just so cute, I couldn't help myself."

"I..." She tried to come up with something else to say, but before she could, he was whipping his head back in the direction of the cave opening.

The boy hummed to himself, his eyes narrowed as he seemed to be watching, or listening to something that she was both blind and deaf to.

"What is it?" Misaki asked, after a minute or two of him just standing there staring again. Surely, it wasn't the stars that held his attention this time.

He said something under his breath, words in another language she didn't understand.

"You know," She grit her teeth in annoyance. "It's rude to ignore someone when they ask you a question."

Green eyes pinpointed her so quickly this time, that it took her breath away. His full, toothy grin should have charmed her to no end, or at least, she knew it was meant to - which was probably the reason why it didn't work on her. She held his stare, refusing to react to any of it.

"My apologies, princess." He replied, ever so sweetly, while tilting his head to one side. "Did you need something?"

"Er-" Misaki gave pause, if only for a moment. Why would he go and call her something so embarrassing? And in that tone of voice! Just... who does that, anyway?!

He smirked at her while she silently fumed. "You know, whenever you blush like that, you look even cuter than normal."

"N-nevermind! Just go back to staring at the stars again, you stupid perv-"

Her stomach growled loudly, cutting her off, and she flushed even more red than before.

The boy arched an eyebrow at her. "You should probably eat something, Prez."

"I'm not hungry." Again, the lie spilled easily from her lips.

His eyes scanned her from head to toe, before he nodded his head and turned, walking out of the cave without another word.

"Hey, hey!" Misaki yapped at him before he could disappear into the night. "Where are you going, all of the sudden?!" She attempted to stand and follow him, but almost fell over in another dizzy spell. "Damn it..." She cursed the fragile state she was in, slumping back down to the earthen floor again.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon with something for you to eat." The boy explained simply enough, and before she could argue any more with him, he was gone.

...

As soon as Usui exited the place where he'd hidden her, he backed up into a rocky ledge, covering his nose and mouth with a hand.

His temple was throbbing, as were his fangs, which protruded prominently now from the edges of his lips. His nostrils flared, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to forget the way she looked, the way she smelled... He wouldn't give into that temptation no matter how much he wanted to. He wasn't like the others, just taking whatever he wanted without any form of consent. And Misaki, of all people, deserved to be treated with some respect.

Although he loved getting different reactions out of her, and seeing her blush... having her blood rush to the surface of her skin all at once like that was almost too much for him to handle.

He could only hope that the others hadn't noticed it. From what he could tell though, they were too preoccupied with someone new to prey on.

...

"Okay, now I_ know_ I heard something." Cece pulled the twin pair of switch blades from her utility belt, and turned to press her back against Lakshay's, in case of an ambush.

He twirled his own twin pairs of sickles at his sides. "Laughter. I heard it too this time."

The sound they were referring to reached their ears again; a string of cackling noises bouncing among the trees from an unknown direction.

"Could you stop swinging your weapons around so carelessly like that?" Cecelia hissed back at him. "If you nick either one of us, we'll practically be ringing the dinner bell."

"Hah, that's funny." His voice turned sly, and she could practically _feel_ him smirking. "I wasn't expecting you, the daughter of the _great_ Giuseppe Russo, to be so nervous out in the field."

"Cautious. The word you're looking for is cautious, you arrogant pain in my ass."

"Mhm, speaking of your ass-"

"And for your information, I'd much rather be handling this on my own."

"-I just _love_ having it pressed up against me like this. Any reason you're standing so close to me, Cecelia? You're not trying to tempt me, are you?"

"Quit being unprofessional-" She snapped, only to be interrupted by more unsettling laughter. "Shit. Was that closer than it sounded before?"

"There's more of them now, too." Lakshay sobered up a bit. "They're closing in fast. It seems Kanou-san was right to warn us, they truly must be a dangerous group... I mean, to have found us so quickly, even though we're both thoroughly trained on how to go unnoticed in vampire territory..."

"...delicious..."

"...that scent..."

"...too easy..."

Words began to make their through the wind amongst the laughter.

Cecelia sneered, gripping her small weapons more tightly than before. "And they're not even bothering to be subtle about it. I don't like the looks of this - they're probably going to try to split us up, and go after me first. Isolate the weakest looking one and close in for the kill together."

"Ambush style, yeah, I know the drill. Groups like these always have a pack mentality." Lakshay shifted his stance slightly, moving his weapons from beside him to in front of him. "Stupid, cackling group of hyenas, that's what they are. Don't they know that they're hunting down a pair of wildebeest, not some measly antelope?"

"I'd prefer to be the hunter, actually. Sitting safe in my ATV with a long-range weapon and some night vision goggles."

"If you prefer to hunt from a distance," He gibed. "then you shouldn't have thrown yourself into this type of mission."

At that, Cecelia had to scoff. "I'm trained in all areas of combat, not to mention, I can track almost as perfectly as my equipment can. I was practically _born_ for search and rescue missions like these, Mahajan. There's a reason why I graduated at the top of my class from the Academy."

"Oh, is that so?" He tilted his head back, just enough to look down at the top of her head. Since he was twice her size, he couldn't see the expression she was making, to tell if she was bluffing or not. "Because from my end, it almost sounds like you're chickening out on me, Russo."

"Would you stop using animal terms? We're _people_, and they're _monsters_. That's all there is to it-" She glanced up at him, feeling the weight of his stare. "Keep your eyes on what's in front of you, _asino!_"

He smirked, and turned back to face the treeline. The leaves were rustling in the wind, creating a dance between moonlight and shadows that played tricks on the eye. The flowers hovering in patches on bushes nearby smelled lovely, he mildly noted; and he had hoped it would help to mask their own scents. "Now who's using animal terms?"

"Shut up and pay attention. The laughter stopped, they must be-"

"You know you sound just like your father," He went on to muse aloud, distracting her from her observations. "He believed in the Devil, didn't he?"

Uncomfortable with the change in topic, Cecelia shifted on her feet. One of her blades almost slipped from her hand, and she fought the urge to nibble on her lips, in case she accidentally drew blood. "Considering how he drilled his religious teachings into my head for all the years that I knew him, yes, I do know. He called vampires 'Devils in disguise', and honestly, I think that's the best term anyone could come up with for them."

"Looks like a human. Talks like a human." Lakshay grinned, though she couldn't see it, she could hear it in his voice. "And yet, they eat little human girls like you for breakfast."

Cecelia was just about to reproach him for that comment, but before she could get the words out, the wind unexpectedly changed directions. The scent of the flowers hit her rather suddenly, a few leaves ripped from the branches above and into her face, and then, someone else beat her to answering him.

"Actually," A girlish voice cooed from exactly five paces to their left (Cece could calculate that much, in the few seconds the newcomer took to speak with them). "I prefer big, handsome men like yourself."

There was a sharp change in temperature, due to close proximity to chilled skin. It lasted no more than a second. Lakshay swore something in his native tongue, and more laughter floated through the air, followed swiftly by silence, and suddenly -

Cece was standing alone in the middle of the garden. Or perhaps, not totally alone, but her only _ally_ in this godforsaken place had been whisked away at a moment's notice.

Rather than fear, anger flooded through her veins; and she felt her face grow warm and red with it. This was exactly the type of reason why she preferred to do missions on her own, since she was in no mood to deal with unexpected (and completely avoidable) damage control.

Hopefully, Lakshay could hold out on his own, because her top priority still remained the same - saving President Ayuzawa.

It was with this thought in mind that Cecelia was able to quickly shake off the shock of her companion's disappearance, and, not wishing to chance further delay, she took a dutiful step in a predetermined direction.

"Awww, looks like you're all alone now, kid." A voice came from approximately two yards out from where she stood; apparently, one of them had managed to sneak up behind her.

She pivoted, threw one of her knives without having to look, and immediately broke into a run.

A body slumped against a tree in her wake. And then - a low, throaty growl was emitted.

"Oh, I'm gonna rip that bitch a new one."


	3. Lure

Once Bitten

Part III

Lure

...

Tora sat on the roof, one knee drawn up to his chest, his free leg swinging over the edge. There was about a 70 foot drop to the cold, hard ground from where he was, which failed to garner any attention from him, much less bother him in any way. No, instead, he was focused on the moves of the players in the game below, as he kept a watchful eye on them from his perch.

Kaon had her hands on the male slayer now - it hadn't taken her long, though he had a feeling that snatching him away from his companion was the easy part, and putting him under her thrall would fair to be a far more difficult task. The man had a strange aura about him, a signature that was entirely unrecognizable to Tora. His Elite had never had to deal with any foreign slayers before, so hopefully, Kaon would exercise some form of caution... And if she didn't, he had faith that Maki would be ready to intercept at any moment, should the tables turn in the male slayer's favor.

As for the female slayer...

Tora smirked, as he watched her tiny form sprinting through the gnarled remains of what used to be the ground's beautifully maintained gardens. She was a nimble little thing - ducking between tree branches and skidding past thorny brambles without having them leave so much as a scratch on her. Her attire might be partly to blame, for that - he knew the black garments of the slayers well - always made up of long sleeves, a high neckline, and material that was tougher than it looked. It would take more than getting snagged by a simple rose bush to break the barrier from silk to skin, and draw beads of rubied blood to the surface.

Closing his eyes, the blond inhaled sharply, and his lips cracked into a grin as he practically _purred_ with delight.

Oh, but even without her blood spilled in the open, the air was scented already with the sickly sweet honey of her very essence; pure, youthful, untouched, unsullied; completely and utterly tempting to any vampire within a five mile radius.

She probably didn't even know it was her fault, that she and her companion had been found so easily. It didn't matter what tricks they used to hide themselves, to mask their human scent and sneak their way past a vampire's honed senses...

Virgin blood was the most pungent of all, infusing everything around it with the scent of the sweetest flower, the most decadent of desserts.

And he wanted a taste.

Like a freshly turned fledgling, he was practically twitching with the desire to taste this one for himself.

_Soon,_ Tora told himself firmly, reeling in his inner animal as it rattled inside his bones, making his veins sing and his fangs tingle with anticipation. _The game will be over soon, and then my fun will begin._

He had no need to be in any kind of hurry. The girl had yet to be caught; she was smart and agile, and dangerous in her own way, despite being a little mouse who had wandered too far into a den of beasts.

He could almost venture to feel impressed, with her survival instincts thus far - if only he weren't so damned thirsty, while he continued to sit back and watch her run.

...

Tomu's sister was usually the one notorious for her bad temper, but he felt himself getting ever closer to losing his cool, as he chased after his prey with little pin-pricks of fiery pain racing up his shoulder.

He was only vaguely aware of the threats he growled at her as he kept in pursuit, fantasizing about ripping her throat out and making her suffer, once he finally caught up to her - just to see how _she_ liked to deal with pain - because _fuck her_ for throwing that damn knife at him!

His fangs flashed in the crisp, night air as he stopped to gulp in mouthfuls of her scent - god_damn, _that was_ stimulating -_ and he knew she was close, but how close, was the question? The wind kept changing directions, and there were others after her, too. Surely, she couldn't keep running forever. Though he had to admit, she was rather fast, for a tiny, weakling of a human.

Tomu licked his lips, his fantasies of violence and gore shifting slightly, as he caught another whiff of her indescribably delicate, delicious scent. He wondered if her blood might taste like cream filling, if it would spill out of her the same way it spills out of those silly human puff pastries he'd seen inside the shop windows whenever he went into town...

"Gods dammit!" He hissed, train of thought broken as his injury throbbed incessantly at him for the dozenth time - of course she'd laced her weapon with vervain, and it had stung like a bitch to rip the knife out with his bare hand. It stung only slightly less in the aftermath, but, it was getting further irritated every time he moved.

He gripped his shoulder, muttering to himself about stupid girls, and had begun to inspect the burn that remained on his left palm... when Ichitaro stumbled upon him; no doubt having followed the path of his blood as it continued to spill freely from his open wound.

"Whoa, man." The other boy shuddered, as if he could feel the phantom touch of Tomu's pain just from looking at the injury. "Your shoulder-"

"Yeah, like I don't know." Tomu huffed, gritting his fangs and fighting off the upsurge of his temper. "That kid... got me with one of her knives."

Ichitaro raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage to get to her first? You left to join the hunt after the rest of us, if I recall."

Tomu's grin was lopsided, his expression turning sly as he wagged his tongue at the other boy and taunted, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Kaon informed you of where they were, didn't she?" Ichitaro sighed.

His friend rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Why do you have to ruin my fun? Alright, yeah, Kaon got to them first. But I still got there second. How could I not, when she was practically _screaming_ at me through our mind-link to hurry up if I wanted her leftovers."

"So you cornered them together, and she took the man... and you were supposed to get the girl..." Ichitaro placed a finger to his lips, mulling over what might have happened in his absence. He leaves the twins alone for two minutes, and all hell breaks loose... "Hmm. But it wasn't so easy for you, clearly." His eyes narrowed as he continued to think aloud, processing. "It was smart of the female slayer, not to stay and attempt fighting you one-on-one. She saved herself some time, and ran. Clever girl."

Tomu frowned, and ground out a string of insults and filthy promises under his breath, his blood practically boiling within his veins as he remembered the initial feeling of the knife flying through the air toward him, and driving home in his flesh - mere inches from his heart. If she'd aimed down and to the left more... but then, she hadn't even been looking at him when she threw her weapon. It made him wonder what state he might be in, if she _had_ been looking...

But was she really that good? Or was it pure luck that she'd landed a hit on him in the first place?

"Are you okay?" Ichitaro suddenly asked, putting a hand on his good shoulder as he swayed on his feet. "You seem..." He studied the other's face, and let go of his shoulder, taking a short step backward. "Pissed."

"I _am_ pissed." Tomu shot back, beginning to lose his grip on his rage. His eyes flashed red, and his body was ready to lunge at anything that moved, on instinct. "That bitch is still around here, somewhere, and when I get my hands on her..."

"Spare me the details." Ichitaro frowned; he'd always been far more shy about spilling blood than his friend. "I know how violent you and your sister can be."

"_Ugh_. Don't compare me to her, please. Kaon is more sloppy than I am. She gets too invested."

"Well, you really shouldn't be so upset by all of this." Ichitaro pressed on, in his quiet, logical way. "You wanted a fight, didn't you? And the slayer is giving you one. Clearly." He gestured to the wound.

Tomu grunted, but a smirk flew up to his lips to linger and grow into something devious. "She just caught me off guard, that's all..."

"Sure, but she's also managed to evade you, and your sister, and I don't think the others are having much luck finding her, either. Li and Tenryu are scouting the area too, you know. I think they might try to lie in wait and ambush her once you chase her out in the open."

"Ah, shit. I forgot about them." Tomu straightened up, then; adjusting his slumped stance into something more presentable, more threatening. His chest expanded and his fangs bared, his nostrils flared as he surveyed the many paths their prey could have taken. "If they're gonna team up, then we should too. How much time do we have left before Igarashi gets involved?"

"Less than six minutes?"

"Shit. Better suck it up and focus, then." Tomu grinned like a wild fox, not unlike the way his sister would when she found something to be particularly exciting. The thrill of the hunt was singing in his veins now, and he couldn't seem to help himself even if he wanted to. That scent... it was drawing out his animal instincts like a siren's call. "Come on, Ichitaro, you're a smart guy. Where do you think that kid could have run off to?"

...

Cecelia gasped for breath she didn't have as she passed through the last of the gardens, and into what she assumed was the remains of an old stable. She undid the latch on one of the stalls, and threw herself inside - landing in a heap in the corner with limbs shaking, lungs aching, sweat slick on her brow and under her arms.

"_Grazie al cielo_," She shuddered, panting and reeling from the several close calls she'd just had. "I think I managed to give them the slip."

Those gardens, woods, or whatever they were, were a vampire-infested _nightmare_.

There was a man with spiky hair after her now, too. He had a deep voice and a crazed look in his eye when he saw her already on the run from the other guy, and she'd had to slide between his legs like a baseball player reaching home base in order to avoid his capture; he'd had his arms outstretched, as if he'd known she'd be coming straight for him.

It was foolish for her to think that there weren't others closing in, at the rate she'd been pumping blood through her veins as she ran frantically through trees and bushes and winding flower paths. Her mind was initially only focused on getting away from the one vampire she'd managed to injure. It was kind of hard _not_ to focus on him, when he was not too far behind her shouting cruel things through the trees about how he'd like to rough her up a bit, show her who was boss. Rip her to shreds. Paint a pretty picture across her skin using her own blood.

He grew quieter the further she ran - perhaps his injury was slowing him down. Vervain was a fast-working drug, after all. Dulling a vampire's senses somewhat, although that one's rage in particular had probably been what kept him going for a while. And he was still out there, too. Searching. Hunting.

Then spiky-man-Mcgrabby-hands had joined the hunt, and ended up hot on her tail until Cece delayed his approach by throwing a smoke bomb laced with garlic back in his direction.

Thank god for her own clever little inventions. That particular move, they didn't teach you back in the Academy.

And through all of this, somehow, thankfully, she'd traveled all that ground and found no trace of her partner's blood, heard no sound of his screams. She thought perhaps the vampiress who'd taken Lakshay had not planned to kill him right away, or that by some great feat of his own, he had already escaped and was on the run, like she was. Or hiding out, trying to form a plan of attack.

It was somewhat of a relief, even if she didn't care about him; she'd really rather not have to deal with the heavy weight of losing her only companion on the first real mission she'd ever been given.

The anger that had filled her upon his initial separation from her, (_which again, could have been avoided, if he had only been paying more attention!_) was still there - but it had died to a dull roar in her ears as she had other things to preoccupy her mind with.

Like how to keep herself from being captured, for example. And then being beaten and batted around like a cat toy, before finally being killed, drained dead for the monster's dinner.

Not only did she have to avoid _that _terrible fate, but she had to find the lost President in the process and escape with her... Or maybe her partner would manage that, all on his own. Now wouldn't that be embarrassing? She would never live it down - if they both survived this whole ordeal, Lakshay would never _let_ her live it down.

But Cecelia knew she was just as talented as he was, even if he had years of experience on her. She was quick, quiet, clever, and good with the few weapons that she had. She had many tricks of her own up her sleeve, self-taught and self-tested and proven to work, and she was easily underestimated, which would come in handy for her.

Although...

There had been an especially terrifying moment - a moment where she'd temporarily lost her mind, and nerve, and doubted herself - when she caught a glimpse of yet another vampire in the gardens. It happened after she threw the smoke bomb, after she was almost in the clear.

For a series of short seconds, which had felt like an eternity, there had been a woman in her line of view - not the boy following her from behind, not the spiky-haired brute trailing her like a shark, but a woman - with long black hair, standing in the center of the courtyard and sniffing the air with her head tilted up and the moonlight streaming over her form like a lover's caress.

She was pale and perfect and nearly, _nearly,_ succeeded in pulling Cecelia toward her with her ethereal beauty alone.

That was one of many skills a vampire could have - allure. Hypnotic, spine-tingling, breath-hitching _allure_.

A most evil weapon, indeed.

Cecelia could only thank her lucky stars that she had been able to guard her mind against such a technique, at the last second. Of course, most of the thanks went to her father and her teachers - and the repeated lessons they'd given her on how to strengthen her brain and school her body against such invasions - to push herself forth by sheer strength of will alone, not letting herself fall victim to the thrall, the temptation, that certain vampires could wield.

It was different in person, though, she had to admit. For a moment, she'd been caught. Entranced. Scared. Conflicted. All of these emotions flooded her adrenaline-high, panicked system at once, but she'd be damned if she was about to give herself up freely, without a fight.

And so she had shook herself out of the moment, and continued running until she was far enough away to stop, and take a breather.

_"Getting too close is usually a matter of suicide..."_ Kanou's words came back to her, and she suddenly understood with startling clarity just what he had meant by that.

From first hand experience, less than ten minutes into her mission, she fully gripped the warning and took it to heart.

This particular coven... the so-called 'Elite' group of vampires... were incredibly dangerous. And no matter how much faith she had in her abilities, she could not afford to underestimate them.

And she realized, she might be just the slightest bit out of her league here. Only slightly, but still.

Her pride alone couldn't help her, save her. Her belief in herself could only get her so far.

If she wasn't careful, they would kill her. And she didn't want to die like this - didn't want to be known as the foolish, over-eager spawn of the Great Giuseppe Russo. People would speak poorly of her death, if she died here. They'd say she was young and reckless, reaching for a potential that just wasn't there. She would be buried forever in the shadow of her father. Useless on her very first mission, a very_ important_ mission, a _man's_ mission, a mission _Giuseppe_ could have easily handled - that could have changed the course of her whole career, her whole life - if she hadn't been so stupid, so sure of herself, yet inexperienced, and weak-minded, and desperate to make a name for herself.

"No," Cece grit her teeth, wrapping her hand around her father's rosary that she wore around her neck. It spilled forth from the turtleneck that she wore, as she bent over practically in half; her other hand splayed on the sullied ground as her body still strained beneath the weight of her limbs and the burn in her lungs. She could just picture his stern face, frowning down at her from heaven, judging her for not living up to his good name. "Not like this."

She had to form a plan, think through everything she was taught in the Academy, think back on all the stories her father had told her from his time in the field.

There had to be some way she could make this mission a success.

Defeat was not inevitable, and it was not an option, for the daughter of Giuseppe - no. For Cecelia-fucking-Russo.

She drew in another gasp of air, and sat up straight. She pulled her heavy legs into her chest, and leaned back against the stained, wooden wall. Soiled straw shifted as she moved, and she wondered briefly, how long it had been since horses had inhabited these stables. These grounds were old. Ancient, one could venture. There were probably all sorts of secret passage ways and catacombs hidden beneath it, in fact; built in for the escape of royal families in case of an attack...

Cece's eyes snapped open, and that's when it hit her.

If there was an underground series of tunnels... the scent of damp, of wet, of mold and rot and sewage, would surely mask whatever scent of hers the vampires had been able to lock onto so easily. Seeing as they hadn't found her yet, in the dank stable corner she was hiding in, that was enough for her to draw such a conclusion. The collection of musty smells had to be dulling their senses.

Furthermore, if President Ayuzawa was going to survive for days in these hellish, vampire-infested grounds, then she had to have found the perfect hiding place. Somewhere where the wind couldn't carry her scent. Somewhere... like a deep recess in the ground, a cavern, or a cave.

Cecelia did a mental fist-pump, and reached to her belt for the digital map of Miyabigaoka that she had stored in her phone. She was certain, if she looked in the right places, and with her excellent tracking abilities, she'd be able to pinpoint exactly where the main points of entry for certain passages might be.

She was just about to open up the map, when something flashed in the corner of her eye.

Her pager was going off. Someone was sending her a signal - no, it was blinking with... an incoming message?

Putting the map away for now, and her plan on the back burner, she reached for the other device with half-parts curiosity, half-parts annoyance - because she already had a feeling about who was trying to get her attention.

And lo and behold, the message was from Lakshay. She could practically _feel_ his thousand-watt, overly-confident smile from wherever he was hiding.

_Have my kidnapper in a nice, restful state. _It read._ Turns out, like all women, she's quite susceptible to my wicked charms. _

Cece held her breath, before her features pinched into a scowl. So he really was as skilled as she was told, then. As competent as he had boasted. That was... both reassuring, and frustrating to no end.

Another message came in. _They're playing a game with us, Cecelia. You have four minutes to find me before their leader joins in. _

_Where are you? _She quickly sent back._ Do you have a plan?_

The pager pinged a few seconds later, reading this time:_ Oh, good! So you managed to stay alive in my absence. I must say, I'm relieved to see you answered right away. Meet me inside the library, it's on the second floor of the building. And don't worry if the others follow you._

Before she could send a further annoyed message, stating that of course she survived, and why the hell shouldn't see be worried about several thirsty vampires following her - another message came in with the simplest of answers.

_You are the bait._

...

There was now a steady mixture of chaos and quiet in the air.

The quiet, on one end, came from Kaon, who appeared to be missing in action. And Maki was being as silent as the grave whenever Tora attempted to reach out to him through the cerebral bond they shared; which could only mean he was captured and subdued (not likely), or he was lying in wait, still within the shadows, for the perfect moment to reveal himself to the enemy (much more likely).

Tora wasn't so concerned with that situation, though, as he was with the one he could actually keep on eye on. It was disappointing, yet amusing, for a multitude of reasons.

Below him, the rest of his coven had formed teams - Ichitaro and Tomu pitted against Li and Tenryu.

Tomu and Tenryu were injured, running around with dulled senses like chickens with their damned heads cut off. Li was fretting over the state of her lover's eyes, which had been badly burned by a cloud of garlic, and Ichitaro was doing a poor job of holding Tomu back, when he viciously broke through the trees to yell something about how vervain was a dirty trick to resort to, and his shoulder felt like it was on fire. He then tackled Li after she saw him moaning about his injury, and she had made a comment about how it made sense that a little girl had gotten the jump on him, that he deserved the wound he bore, for being so clumsy, like his idiot of a sister.

They were fighting in the middle of the courtyard now, while Tenryu was slow to recover from the amount of garlic he had inhaled, and Ichitaro was attempting to keep to himself, not wanting any part in the ongoing tussle between Tomu and Li.

Speaking of the willowy vampiress, Li appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact that she had almost _had_ the girl within her grasp. Almost, but not quite.

Tora felt something within him stir, as he recalled the sight of the pretty little slayer as she stopped to stare at the dark-haired woman for all of ten seconds... Before breaking back into a run. Adrenaline pumping, breath stuttering. Eyes wide like a rabbit cornered by rabid dogs. Outnumbered... but not yet outmaneuvered.

Because the little thing fought back, and she didn't play by the rules. No, she played dirty.

A guttural sound slipped free from the gnashed teeth of a smirk around Tora's lips. Gods, did she want to kill him? (_Well... yes, actually,_ a part of his mind helpfully supplied,_ that's exactly what she wanted. To kill him. To kill all of them._) He wanted to leap down from the roof right then and there and be done with it all. Grab her by the scruff of her neck and force her to submit to him, until all that willpower was stripped from her completely, and she was a purring, drooling mess at his feet. She would offer herself to him, and he would gladly partake.

But... all good things, to those who wait.

She was alone now. But by no means was she safe. Hidden somewhere in the stables, her scent had faded somewhat - but he had been the only one to keep track of her the whole time, so he knew exactly where to find her, should he join the hunt.

He kept an eye on the ruined structure she'd disappeared into, wondering how long it would take her to catch her breath, and figure out a plan of some sort.

He checked his watch. Four more minutes to go. Time was wasting, and nobody but him seemed to be properly conscious of that fact.

Tora released a sigh, and swung his hanging leg back up onto the roof next to him. He leaned back, stretching his long limbs behind him as the muscles tensed, and relaxed. Once he was satisfied with his joints popping into the correct places, he pulled himself to his feet; and with all the inborn balance of a circus acrobat on a tightrope, he walked the line of the roof in a considering, contemplative manner; hands behind his back, golden eyes zeroed in on the spot his prey had tucked herself in, away from the other predators.

He licked his dry lips, craving a drink to quench his undying thirst.

Four measly minutes left... And he could accomplish what the others clearly couldn't, in two.

But he would wait. Holding back his urges until the very last minute, where then, and only then, he would show everyone up and claim the prize for himself.

That would teach his coven to renew their respect for him. Respect was something, after all, that should never become dull over time. Like the finest blade, it had to be sharpened - honed on the regular.

Capturing the woman for himself would also, as a bonus, prove to be a great relief to his ongoing boredom. After all, it wasn't every day a virgin slayer wandered into his territory. She was the youngest he'd ever seen, to be sent out into the field like this. And if he played his cards right, twisted her mind just-so to his whims, he should be able to get her to lead him to Seika's President; which their coven's runaway, rogue prince had disappeared with days ago, to keep her all to himself.

Tora stopped walking, his eyes narrowing sharply as he considered the other blond boy he'd always been at odds with.

That royal pain in the ass just didn't know any sense of boundaries or respect. Just what was he doing with the Slayers of Seika's leader, anyway? He should have been back by now. Killed their coven's main source of years of repression and misery, bloodshed and war, and been done with it. But _instead_, the ludicrous prince had lost all sense of loyalty and disappeared for days on end without a word to report back. It made things difficult for Tora, for the Elite as a whole, to say the least. Trust was withering. Faith was dying out. No one knew whose side the prince was even on, anymore. He spent so much time to himself, spacing out, leaving Miyabigaoka's grounds to go off on field trips to god-only-knows-where... And now he was protecting the enemy, no doubt, because he had some sort of infatuation with her. Tora had seen it, firsthand. He was the only one who knew of it, well, he and Maki, and he planned to keep it that way - but this most recent stunt was making it harder for him to cover up.

_Damn that bastard Usui!_ Tora grit his teeth in a feral way. If he could rip the man's throat out without having to pay for the extreme backlash he would undoubtedly face from it, then he would. With pleasure.

But, back to the matter at hand... It wouldn't be too long, now, until he could stop standing idly by and actually take his turn in the game. After all, what was four minutes compared to an eternity? He had, quite literally, all the time in the world to make his move on the little tart that awaited him below. She was to be his dinner, _and_ dessert, once he had her under his thrall... And he certainly didn't plan on sharing with anyone. It was entirely their own fault, anyway, if they missed out on such a rare treat.

Tora trained his eyes back to the scene of Li and Tomu bickering with each other, a smirk pulling at his moonlit features. And poor Tenryu had taken to clawing at his eyes, itching at every inch of skin he could reach to get rid of the stench of garlic on him - now wasn't that fun?

In these moments of quiet observation, it was all too entertaining to watch his underlings flounder and suffer beneath him.

* * *

_A/N: This fucking guy... amiright? So smug. *you can't see, but I'm rolling my eyes as I'm writing this*_

_And that Lakshay, too - I wonder what he did to get a wild cat like Kaon under his control? I guess we'll find out soon enough._

_And don't even get me started on everyone else. Like, I know I said previously that I'd be taking some creative liberties with their personalities and whatnot, but please feel free to share if__ any of them get a little too OOC, because writing them as vampires is kinda WEIRD for me to wrap my head around sometimes..._

_Also, sorry for no Usui or Misaki in this chapter. They'll be back soon, I swear it. I just wanted to get in some broody scenes of Tora's inner monologuing, and the inner struggle Cece was going through. She went from 0 to 100 real quick - I mean, imagine being angry with your disappearing, idiot, no-good partner one minute, and being chased by several hungry, angry, threatening monsters in the next? Yeah. She's lucky she can run like the wind and knows all the best places for hide and seek. And that she's Italian, and therefore by default knows all the best ways to utilize garlic as a weapon. _

_(I feel like I don't have to explain that that last thing was a joke. Honestly, not all Italians know everything about pasta, and garlic, and cooking... Obviously, they make for some pretty decent plumbers, too! And they usually have someone in the family named Luigi, and share a deep hatred for fire-breathing turtle monsters)_

_(I'm joking again. Please don't kill me if you happen to be a beautiful Italian-born angel (pasta)_

_Addio, bellas! Sorry I'm such a goof ;P And thanks for the positive feedback so far! I love you, kiss me, you fools._

_:* CK_


	4. Snare

Once Bitten

Part IV

Snare

...

The hallways inside Miyabigaoka were surprisingly tidy for how old the building appeared to be. They were also well-dressed, with lush carpets, silken drapes, marble statues and golden-framed paintings lining every wall without a window.

Cecelia stopped, just briefly, to admire one in particular; an attractive mythological scene with a hidden sense of humor to it, depicting Venus, the goddess of Love, and Mars, the god of War. It was set during one of their trysts - Venus, beautiful and regal, sat watching her sleeping lover as little imps played with his armor, appearing to make a great deal of noise and mischief - yet still, Mars slept on, beautiful in his own right, but more or less dead to the world.

Love awakened whenever War laid dormant.

A most intriguing piece, indeed. Clearly, someone within the Miyabigaoka estate had a deep appreciation for the arts. Cecelia happened to love Sandro Botticelli herself, as well as many other Italian Renaissance artists... _however,_ the idea of having anything in common with a dirty, soulless vampire did not sit well with her.

She peeled her eyes away from the painting, leaving Venus and Mars behind to their age-old affair as she quickened her pace toward the library marked on her phone.

The further she went into the dark recesses of the building, the more she began to notice its true form. For as elegant as the structure's interior was, it felt equally as grim. There was no light to guide herself by, save for the occasional moonlit window, and the ceilings arched so high that she felt minuscule, insignificant, in comparison. The only sound that greeted her was the breath leaving her own lips, and the light tread of her footsteps on cold marble or well-worn carpets.

She felt completely alone in every sense, as she walked and walked and walked (and damn, this place was huge!) - but there were a few times when the shadows seemed to move on their own, startling her; creating shapes she could barely make out in the corner of her eye, before she turned her head, and they were gone. And it was frustrating, not knowing if she were imagining it due to her own paranoia, or if she were actually being watched and followed.

Hopefully, it wasn't the latter. At the very least, she didn't _think_ anyone had taken to following her just yet.

Getting inside the building had proven easier than expected, since the vampires out to get her were now bickering among themselves in the courtyard. They hadn't noticed her sneak away from the stables, and she chalked it up to lucky circumstances. Surely, though, they wouldn't be at each other's throats for much longer - not when they remembered why they were bickering in the first place.

In the meantime, it gave her a good head start. She could seek out her partner's location, and learn more about whatever plan he had, involving her as 'bait'.

_Oh, honestly..._ Cecelia couldn't help rolling her eyes at the thought. She didn't like the sound of that too much, playing 'bait', and she didn't know if any of these vampires were stupid enough to fall for it. But if there was even the smallest chance it could work... she'd take it.

After all, she didn't really have much of a choice, if they wanted to make it out of here alive.

...

Lakshay was smirking, rather pleased with himself as he circled his prisoner like a proud peacock strutting its feathers.

"You know," He said to the sleeping girl - who wasn't actually asleep, per se, but lulled into a deep, hypnotic state. "You're quite the cute little kitten, when you're not trying to sink your claws into a meal."

"Mm-hmm..." Kaon responded in a low hum, her eyelids drooping to half mast as she listened to him speak.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Abruptly, the man turned, slamming his hands down on the armrests of the chair she was resting in.

She didn't even flinch.

"Like... what?" The girl murmured, blinking up at him with a blank expression. She'd lost this battle long ago - the man wasn't called the 'Vampire Whisperer' for nothing.

Lakshay leaned into her ear, chuckling as it brought his neck closer to her mouth and she finally_ twitched_ \- inhaling his scent and moaning at the proximity.

"You'd like to sink your claws into me right about now." He verified, his voice a dulcet timbre that lured her further under his control.

"Yes..." She attempted to sit up, to reach him better, but her body felt far too heavy and warm; like her bones had been turned to soup.

"Or," He pulled back from her, tipping her chin up with a finger and arching an eyebrow at the way she stared at the vein in his neck, and licked her lips, moaning again. "would you prefer to be my kitten, instead? My slave, my pet?"

"That... works too..." Kaon sighed, offering up a sleepy smile in response.

Lakshay studied her for a moment too long, a slow, sly grin sneaking onto his face at her willingness to comply. "Good gir-"

"Well_ this _certainly is disturbing."

He jumped back from the vampiress, as if burned; not expecting to hear anyone else's voice this deep inside the library.

"Uhhh," He spun around to see Cece standing behind the two of them, with her hands on her hips and a reproachful look on her face. "I wasn't doing anything weird."

"You called her your _kitten_." The younger slayer's lip curled in a sneer. "How is that not weird?!"

"I was playing around, you know, messing with her head!" Lakshay insisted, brushing his hair out of his face with a flourish. "Just... killing time until you arrived, which you finally have, so now I can stop and - um - by the way, did anyone follow you?" His eyes flickered past her, doing a quick scan of the rows upon rows of bookshelves that stood at her back.

"Not that I noticed," Cece shrugged, brushing her hand over a sleek cherry wood desk as she stepped further into what she assumed was one of the grand library's _many_ sitting rooms. The furniture littering the space looked insanely comfortable - all velvet-lined, with crushed velvet throw pillows, and faux mink blankets - and if their lives weren't in mortal danger, and they didn't have a job to do, she could picture herself perusing the endless shelves and curling up to read here for hours on end.

She shook her head, coming back to the matter at hand. "But they'll be along shortly, I'm sure."

Lakshay nodded along to her words, just as Kaon started to stir to life in her chair.

"My... brother..." The girl whined, her eyes fluttering like someone fighting to wake up from a dream.

"No, no." Lakshay scolded her, placing his palm over her forehead and closing his eyes in concentration. "You will _not_ be reaching out to him through your mind link anytime soon. For the time being, you are mine."

Cece's gaze traveled over the thin, blond woman, who was clearly under some sort of thrall. She quirked an eyebrow, remembering how the girl had sounded so sly and confident when she stole Lakshay away... and now, all he had to do was whisper a few words to her, and she went completely limp once more.

"How did you manage to get her like this? I've never seen a vampire so... docile, before."

The answer to her question wasn't worth the shit-eating, thousand-watt smirk he gave her. "I am a very talented man, Cecelia. Women are usually reduced to nothing more than putty under my skilled hands."

"_Oh mio Dio,_" She muttered under her breath, shaking her head at his antics. If she didn't need him healthy for this mission, she swore, she would have stabbed him for such a comment. "Just when I thought it wasn't possible to loath you any more than I already do..."

She heard his chuckle, and lurched away from him when his hand fell to the small of her back - he moved quicker than she thought, apparently, and it startled her to suddenly have his much taller, broader form looming in her personal space. "Come now, _signorina_. You may not like it, but you have to admit that I'm good at what I do."

"Alright then, if you're_ really_ so skilled." She pushed him off of her, glowering up at his self-assured smile. "What's the plan? Where do we go from here?"

He held up a finger, "Hold on a moment," and winked at her, before turning back to the prone vampire in the room. "Kitten, dear, where was it that you said was the best place to lie in wait for an ambush?"

"There's a hidden balcony along the domed ceiling of the Grand Theatre," The girl spoke in a soft drone, sighing when Lakshay went to caress her hand within both of his. "No one goes up there anymore..."

"Very good, my dear, you're being so good for me... and, it will be easy to lure the rest of your coven there? To set up a trap?"

"Easy..." Kaon answered, her eyes falling shut as he brushed his fingers over her face. "If you have the right kind of bait... they'll... follow..."

"Excellent." He beamed, all too content with his findings. "You will fall into a deep, dreamless sleep now, darling. And don't you dare wake up until I tell you to."

The blond's head slumped to the side after that, her hand slipping from between his as she went completely still, and silent. It didn't even look as though she was breathing, but then, she didn't need to.

When Lakshay turned back to face his companion, even his teeth seemed to be sparkling in triumph.

"That was exceptionally creepy." Cece deadpanned, but when he frowned at her, she gave an inch - because somehow, his frown was even more off-putting than his smile. "However... admittedly... I am _somewhat_ impressed. You could have inquired about the whereabouts of Ayuzawa-san, though."

"I already did. All this woman told me was that the President came onto their turf claiming that she only wanted to talk with them... in an attempt to make peace, I suppose. But they didn't believe her. So they attacked, and she ran, only to be rescued by a certain... Prince of the vampires."

"So there's a prince now, huh?" Cece scoffed. "None of this is making any sense. If there was such a thing, wouldn't someone know about it by now?"

"Perhaps he went into hiding?"

"Or he doesn't exist."

Lakshay was frowning again, folding his arms in a defensive stance. "I did my part, gathered what information that I could. If you want to be cynical about it, go right ahead - although I'm sure there are plenty of books in here that will tell you the truth of the matter."

Cece folded her arms as well, frustrated with his self-superior attitude. "Need I remind you that we are searching for Seika's President, not this... 'Vampire Prince'. And before we can get to searching for her, we really need to deal with the monsters crawling around this place first... So I suggest we get moving, _now._"

It was his turn to shake his head at her, for once, since she was being so difficult. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" When she only glared at him, he snorted. "Yeah, you know you are, so don't even deny it. But I suppose we _should _get a move on, before they manage to sniff us out again." He moved towards her, abruptly, and she took a step back seeing the determined look on his face. "But first... before I forget..."

"What are you-" She tried to say, but he moved far too fast for her liking.

When Cece was successfully backed up into the desk, Lakshay smirked down at her, reaching past the collar of his shirt and pulling an item out from under it - a small crystal vial, tied with a cord around his neck. He gave it a sharp tug, and it came loose. Then, grabbing for her hand, he placed the vial on her open palm as if it belonged there.

"I was prepared to kick you, you know." She admitted to him, once she realized he wasn't trying to make a move on her. Her eyes fell on the gift, and she wrinkled her nose at the warmth that it held - it had been pressed to his bare chest, after all, resting at the place just over his heart. "What is it, and why are you giving it to me?"

"A charm my mother made, before I accepted this job." He smiled at her, but it wasn't one of his usual blinding smiles; it was softer, more... genuine. "It will keep you safe, while you're acting as vampire bait."

"I thought I already told you, I can protect myself just fine. And besides that..." She frowned, looking up to meet his eyes. "Isn't it supposed to be keeping _you_ safe?"

"Oh, please. I've got all the charm I need," He brought a hand up to his chest in pride. "etched into my personality."

Cecelia wasn't sure what had gotten into him - perhaps he'd gone temporarily insane - but she knew she didn't want to take such a special item from him. His mother made it, after all, to ensure _his_ safety.

"I don't want it." She said curtly, pushing it back into his hands. "Take it back."

Lakshay sighed, giving her a quick once-over with his eyes. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're tiny, compared to me. Not weak, I suppose, but tiny, yes. And you walked into this library covered in filth. You smell like a barn house, and you look like you ran a marathon through those woods back there. In all honesty, I should have offered you the charm sooner," He shrugged. "maybe then you wouldn't have had such a rough go of it in my absence."

"I can't tell if you feel guilty, or responsible, or if you're pitying me or... what. But in any case," Cece moved forward, physically pressing the vial into his chest this time, as if it might stick there on its own. "I can't accept this, because it isn't meant for me."

"It is now, Cecelia. Trust me, my mother would approve."

"Well_ I_ don't."

Finally, he smirked down at her, something dark and decidedly sly. "If you refuse to wear it, then I'll just have to plant a kiss on you for good luck instead-"

He leaned forward, swift as ever, and she shoved the heel of her hand into his nose before he got within even an inch of her face.

"Fine! I'll wear it." She huffed, pulling the cord up around her neck and tying a simple knot at the base. It settled nicely between her breasts as she tucked it in, just above where her father's rosary lay hidden. "But this doesn't make me your girlfriend, or anything like that."

"Hah," Lakshay grinned crookedly at her, gently prodding his nose to make sure she hadn't broken anything. "You should be so lucky."

...

Tora had just come down from the roof when his link with Maki suddenly burst back to life; like static on the radio suddenly giving way to the clear lyrics of a familiar song.

As it turns out, Kaon was incapacitated, at the moment. Maki hadn't deemed it fit to save her, or rather, he didn't think it was safe to reveal himself once he saw what the foreign male slayer was capable of. And that was fair, in Tora's opinion - even though Kaon wasn't the most resistant of vampires to begin with, when it came to being put under someone else's control, he'd rather not risk his second-in-command falling under the same type of thrall, too.

And it was a good thing that Maki had stuck to the shadows, because now he had eyes on the two slayers, _and_ he knew of their plans.

He was trailing them in secret, awaiting orders before he acted. And it was moments such as these where Tora truly appreciated Maki's unwavering devotion to him; sometimes, it annoyed him, but other times, it proved to be extremely useful to him.

"The man is a threat." He told the other boy. "Deal with that as you see fit, but leave the girl for me. I want her _alive._"

He cut off communications after that, once Maki had given him the affirmative, saying that he understood.

And now, several minutes later, the golden-eyed vampire smiled to himself as he leisurely made his way across the grounds; his new destination, the Grand Theatre. He would've told the rest of the Elite about his plans, but, this _had_ been a competition, and they_ had_ chosen to spend it getting in each other's way, rather than focusing on the main objective.

They were the ones who had wanted to make a game out of this. It wasn't his fault they were so bad at winning.

The ten minutes were up, and there was still a winner that needed to be declared. He gave them their chance at fun, but now...

It was his turn to play.

...

They were passing down yet another hall of portraits and paintings, closing in on the Theatre, when Cecelia couldn't help pausing beside another painting that she recognized.

"_La Mort de la Vierge._" She mused, trailing a delicate hand over the case protecting the artwork. "Isn't this supposed to be hanging up safely within The Louvre?"

"It must be a replica." Lakshay grunted, swinging his sickles around impatiently as he waited for her to keep walking.

"It looks like the original to me. I've seen it before, long ago, when I was a little girl." She squinted back at him. "You don't think they stole it, do you? That's an awful lot of effort to put forth, just for a painting."

"I agree." He stopped swinging his weapons in order to pin her with a flat, disinterested look. "_It's just a painting,_ Cecelia. Colors on paper. What's so special about it, that it makes you have to stop and stare for lord-knows-how-long until the vampires come to sap every last drop of our blood?"

Cece shot him a dirty look, before turning her head away to admire the painting for even longer, just to bother him. "Philistine." She muttered.

"I'm just saying-" He started to argue his point further, but his voice cut off unexpectedly. The sound of metal hitting the floor met her ears, as well - he must have been doing too many tricks with his weapons, and dropped them by accident.

"Yeah, well, I don't care what you have to say about something you _clearly_ don't understand." She shot back, stubbornly studying the painting while she waited to hear the rest of his argument. Most likely, it was going to have something to do with how his face was the only beautiful thing worth looking at, and why should she stare at art when she had him? Blah blah blah, boast boast boast, she gets it, he's full of himself.

Except, that argument never came. As shocking as it seemed to her, he didn't end up saying any of that at all.

Cecelia rolled her eyes at the silence, figuring he was only acting childish by standing there, pouting at her. "Don't tell me you..." Her voice trailed off when she turned to face him, and saw nothing but shadows behind her. The soft glimmer of her partner's twin sickles laid abandoned on the floor, but there was no sign of him, anywhere.

"Mahajan... this isn't funny."

The silence seemed to press in on her, deeply unsettling in the wake of her own words.

"Mahajan." She tried again, keeping her voice angry and steady, despite the icy feeling that was trickling down her spine; a cold sweat. Her body's warning to her mind.

Still no answer came, and now it looked as if the shadows were pressing in on her, too. Cece took a large step backward, and felt her back hit the edge of the painting. If she looked back now, she was sure she'd see the dead virgin Mary staring down at her, urging her to run.

"L-Lakshay?"

The shadows peeled away, and a body fell out of them at her feet; mangled and broken, with the man's neck quite obviously snapped.

She screamed, skidding away from the gruesome sight - only to have two phantom limbs spring out from behind her, securing her against a firm chest at her back.

"Got you." A slick voice purred into her ear.

* * *

_A/N: I have writer's block again. Send help._


	5. Capture

Once Bitten

Part V

Capture

...

Her scream stopped short in her throat and for an instant, Cecelia stood frozen like a rabbit in headlights.

_Got you..._ The voice, sly and confident, echoed in her ears; soon followed by a low chuckle that made her cheeks flush with shame and anger at how easily she'd been cornered.

Well. She _had_ meant to be the bait, in Lakshay's plan. But that plan had all gone to shit, now that the person meant to back her up was lying in a broken heap on the floor. He was, quite literally, a dead weight to her at this point. Neck snapped, twisted completely out of place, with his eyes staring lifelessly into her own.

Casting her gaze from her partner's body, to the sickles lying abandoned on the floor, Cece did her best to stomach the appalling sight before forcing herself into a state of stony determination. If her father had taught her one thing in his lifetime, it was to always have a tough skin. To look beyond the string of deaths, the hellish reality of the world their family played a pivotal role in, and get the job done.

Her partner was gone, and there was jack shit she could do about that. If there ever was a time to improvise, that time was now. This was why they taught you to think on your feet at the Academy, because if you didn't... you'd end up dead. Or worse.

Cece clenched her fists as she felt the arms around her tighten - the voice was still chuckling, thinking it had won, and she wasn't sure if it was instinct or pride alone that caused her to raise the heel of her boot up, and firmly kick the edge of it against his shin.

"What in the-" Her captor sounded more surprised than pained by the action, but his arms slackened just enough for her to duck and roll across the floor; snatching up both of her partner's blades along the way.

"Not one move, from either of you!" She turned on a dime and spat like a viper, wild eyes flickering between the golden-eyed man to her right, and the shadowy figure to her left, now standing over Lakshay's broken body. She grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes as he moved to approach her, swinging one of the blades in a wide arc between them, slicing cleanly through the air. "Believe me, punk. After what you just did, I'll happily slit your throat."

The man bowed his head and backed up, to her amazement. However, she didn't miss the glance he shared with his golden-eyed companion over her shoulder.

Without having to speak a word to each other, the one in the shadows melted back into the darkness, as if he'd never been there at all. And then, the other started to approach her instead.

Damn it, they were working perfectly in sync. And she was down a man already.

"Hey!" Cece flinched back as the blond vampire took long strides forward, approaching her despite her obvious threat. He was all cocky about it too, with his hands clasped behind his back and his fangs flashing at her, as if he weren't the least bit intimidated. "What did I just say?! Stay. Back." Her head turned from him to look over her shoulder, then back to him again when she was met with nothing but shadows.

Shit. This really would be easier with Lakshay watching her back.

_We thought you might need the backup,_ Kanou's words replayed within her mind, and suddenly, she understood that he really hadn't been insulting her. He'd been taking the mission seriously, because he knew what the 'Elite' were capable of.

"Well aren't you something." The vampire interrupted her thoughts, and as his eyes caught hers, she lost her nerve for the fraction of an instant. They were alight with mischief and amusement - with bright, fiery mayhem - and they sparkled like twin medallions in the dark.

"You don't really want to hurt me," He spoke again, taking another step forward and forcing her to take two steps back.

Cecelia blinked at the sound of his smooth, silken voice... there was something to that voice, something about the inflection he was using, that caused her head to fill with fuzz and her nerves to fry all at once. He was clearly more powerful than any of the others. This must be their leader, then. The color of his eyes was a telling sign as well.

Kanou's description came back to Cece in a heartbeat - _A golden-eyed beast. Tora. Surname Igarashi. He's a dangerous one. Tricky, cold, and calculating from the reports..._

Cece shifted back on one of her feet, readying her stance in case he decided to pounce. "I will if I have to." She stated, and it took some effort to defy him; even more effort to keep her hands firm on the weapons she held in front of her. Her eyes flickered back to Lakshay's body, and she snarled in disgust, "In fact, I would take _great pleasure_ in it, at the given moment."

"Hmm." The beast continued to approach her, and she frowned, having to take two more steps back.

And then her back hit another wall, or so she assumed, before the shadows fell around her form and threw everything into pitch blackness. "_Fuck,_" She cursed, and just as she turned to swipe behind her with the sleek curve of a blade, her head was pulled back roughly by a fist in her hair, breaking her concentration and stopping her momentum.

Next thing she knew, the sickles were stolen from her sweaty grip, and the shadows receded just as quickly as they had unraveled.

Behind her, the chuckling had returned. The man who'd been stalking her smirked directly beside her ear, resting his free hand on the flexing curve of her bicep. "Going somewhere, little rabbit?"

Cece froze for the second time that evening, recalling once more some of the warnings Kanou had left her with before the mission.

_Mahajan-san is probably your best shot at survival._

And wouldn't it just be her luck, that the man would be cocky enough to first let himself get captured, only to break free, and then not be cautious enough to prevent his own death shortly thereafter.

If he weren't dead already, she'd strangle him herself for being quite possibly the worst partner on the planet.

"Get the _hell _off of me!" Cecelia tried to whirl around to face the monster behind her, but he held her tightly against his chest by her hair. She yelled and screeched at her very loudest volume - (which was close to deafening, according to her late father, who had raised her through many a temper tantrum) - fighting with all her might to escape a certain blond's hold on her. "Get your filthy hands off of me, you demon, or I swear to God I will break my foot off in your-"

His free hand came around to her mouth this time, silencing her. She worked her jaw in an attempt at biting him, but vampires were strong creatures, and she could do no more other than shiver and fidget within his grasp.

"How very interesting... I've never heard of a rabbit that can bark." His voice went deeper, turned mocking, and again she tried to bite his hand. "Or bite, for that matter. If I had known you were going to be this feisty, I would have come to collect you sooner."

"Mphuck off! L'me ghah!_ Vaffcuphmho!_ " She continued to wriggle and yell like a little hell beast in his hold.

"What was that?" He released both hands from her for only an instant, before turning her around so that he could look her straight in the eye.

"- I said to fuck right off, you pig-brained, repulsive, son-of-a-bitch-!" She seethed.

"_Repulsive_, you say?" He interrupted her by leaning forward, and nipping lightly at her ear. A quick, simple action that had her cheeks burning red and her head whipping in the opposite direction, as far away from his lips as possible. He laughed again, at the way her entire body was abruptly drawn tight - like a wire for him to pluck. "You won't be thinking that when I'm finished with you..."

"You're disgusting! Touch me like that again and I'm going to-" She began her little tirade once more, but he'd had enough of her pointless threats.

"Maki." His voice was calm, as he pushed her away from him and into the shadows. Tora's eyes filled with amusement as he watched the little rabbit stumble, only slightly, before she reached down and pulled a switchblade from a strap around her thigh. It was about the size of a butter knife, and that... amused him greatly. "Would you mind taking our lovely guest off my hands for a bit? Lock her up where the others can't get to-"

He shut his mouth when the blade soared through the air toward him, moving his head to one side so that it grazed his cheek, rather than implanting itself in his eye socket, as it was intended to.

The look he gave her as he touched a finger to the mark on his cheek was one of wide-eyed surprise; but Cecelia only spared him the briefest glare before spinning on her heel, with another knife held at the ready - small, simple weapons were her specialty, as she had told Kanou back at Seika's Stronghold - and no one ever expected her to use them with such finesse.

She was about to plunge it into the darkness behind her, when a hand of dark matter beat her to the catch, twisting her wrist and disarming her once more. Then another hand pulled her closer around her hip, before lifting her up as if she weighed nothing, until she was situated awkwardly over someone's shoulder.

When that same hand landed innocently on her rump to steady her, she turned even more red with a newfound rage. "Get your filthy hands off of my-"

"My apologies." Maki was quick to place his hand across her lower back instead, and she tried to kick him, and spit on his shoes.

"Don't worry, my associate is a gentleman, through and through." Tora had his hands clasped behind his back again, walking circles around the two of them as he spoke. His voice was practically_ purring_ with amusement at this point. "He wouldn't lay a hand on you unless I gave the order."

"Well isn't that reassuring!" Cece barked from her uncomfortable position, legs flailing in the air as she went on fighting against Maki's hold. "Considering he just snapped my partner's neck, and has now thrown me over his shoulder, I would say he's not much of a gentleman at all. I'd even say he puts the 'ass' in 'associate', but that's being too kind given the fact that you are both cold-blooded killers-"

Tora stopped behind Maki's back to face her, locking eyes and placing a single finger to her lips. When she looked up at him, startled and offended (and quite obviously pissed), he smiled politely back. "No offense, sweetness, but... you talk far too much game for someone so... small, and helpless, at the moment. I was speaking, so it's time for you to shut the hell up and_ listen_."

He spoke the command quietly, but forcefully. And the moment he did, Cece found that her mouth would not allow any more words to escape it. She tried, and failed to make any noise, and the man's smirk grew all the while.

"Something the matter, rabbit?" He leaned forward, golden eyes glinting in manic delight. "Cat got your tongue?"

Cecelia glowered at him with everything she had, then moved her mouth in three simple words that he could easily read from her lips, 'Go to hell'.

He blinked at her, and she spit directly into his face, for good measure.

At that, his eyes turned dark, like molten amber, and an eerie smile crept in out of nowhere. He brushed her spit from his cheek as if it were nothing, and with one gesture of his hand he had Maki setting her back on her feet.

"Hell, you say." While Maki held her arms behind her back, Tora grabbed for her chin; cupping it in a bruising grasp that forced her head up and her eyes forward, onto his. Cecelia sucked in a breath, still unable to make a noise as those eyes burned her - harsher than fire and darker than death at the same time.

"Hell is too good for the likes of me, I believe." He admitted, brushing a finger down her face, the side of her cheek, the dimple in her chin - until he brushed back the curling locks of hair from her neck, and leaned his face into the crook of it.

She was... tinier than he'd first thought, he mused. And she smelled positively exquisite, sweet enough to make his teeth ache and just about make his head spin. This close, she was truly intoxicating and if he drank from her, he was almost certain that wine would spill out, instead of blood.

His nose traced the line of her throat through the cloth of her shirt, and he opened his mouth to breathe across it, cold air from an even colder set of lungs. "You smell delicious," He purred, hooking a finger into the high neckline of her shirt and pulling down until he could place his lips against the smooth canvas of her skin -

Something there stung him sharply, and he stepped back, bemused.

With narrowed eyes he gazed upon the pair of necklaces she wore, taking note of a simple black cord and a delicate, silver chain resting against her olive skin. Whatever was at the end of them appeared to be tucked into her bosom, and he would have gladly fished them out to get a better look, except that she chose that moment to distract him.

"Y-you..." Cece muttered, barely able to say anything past the command he'd given her.

Still, even that small word was impressive enough to make Tora lift his head. He cocked an eyebrow at her, more curious than impressed.

"You really should remove those for me." He said, in reference to the necklaces. "They're getting in my way."

"F-f-f-uck y-y-" She started to say, and he wrapped his hand around the length of her hair once more, pulling until the roots tugged painfully at her scalp. She took a deep breath in through gritted teeth at the repeated action, hissing like an angry snake.

"What was that, sweetheart?" The sudden curve to Tora's lips was as cruel as it was predatory. "I don't believe I heard you."

"Sir." Maki cut in, his voice a reverent reminder in the darkness shrouding his figure. "The others are on their way here. I can sense them coming up the corridor."

Golden eyes flicked down the hallway, before rolling in annoyance. "Tch. So they're done wrestling in the dirt now, are they?" His tone flattened out, and he released his hold on the girl's hair, stepping back from her with a sigh. "Looks like we'll have to continue this later, in a more... private, setting. Or," He smirked, his eyes returning to Cecelia's frustrated, wriggling form. "I could let my Elite have their way with you now. I do believe you caused quite the ruckus earlier, and I'm certain Tomu has all sorts of creative ways he'd like to deal with you..."

"Sir?" Maki questioned; not understanding it was just Tora's way of trying to get under his prey's skin.

Cece didn't appear to rise to the bait. She went still in Maki's hold, and glared directly up at Tora with all the malice in the world. Something about the way her back straightened out, and the way she held her head high, suggested that she was _daring_ him to do it - daring him to feed her to the dogs.

"But," Tora lifted a finger, wagging it before her eyes."What a waste that would be." His eyes practically sparked with mischief, and her lip curled back in great displeasure at the sight.

_"Vaffanculo!"_ She managed to curse under her breath, twisting her arms in Maki's grip in an attempt to lunge forward and attack the man in front of her.

Tora's brow soared upward, and he gazed at her with increasing interest. "I'm going to assume that wasn't very nice, but we can deal with your foul mouth later. For now..." He closed in on her again, eyes sharper than steel as they bore into hers.

Cecelia's own eyes widened, as he swept the cool palm of his hand across her forehead, pulling stray locks of hair away from her face.

"**Go to sleep**." He murmured to her, soft as a lullaby.

Her eyelashes fluttered as he pulled away, and she shook her head only slightly before slumping into Maki's hold, her breathing steadying out in her unconscious state.

"So, then." Maki cleared his throat, sounding devoid of emotion as ever. "The east wing?"

"Yes, in the room closest to mine, if you would. Off you go," Tora waved him away, his tongue swiping across his dry lips as he eyed the girl hungrily. He wasn't done with her yet, not by a long shot. "I'll be with her shortly... after I've dealt with the rest of our peers."

* * *

_A/N: I realize this story is just me being self-indulgent at this point but. *shrugs* what can I say? I started this fic to get out of a slump, and now it's my guilty pleasure. My easy-going little vampire story to help me out when I'm feeling uninspired or overwhelmed. I'm having fun with this, honestly. I like suspense and sexual tension. I like writing feisty female leads and dark, villainous pretty boys. And while Twilight never appealed to me and never will (no offense to any Twilight fans out there, but... Bella's character is written so poorly, in my opinion, that I couldn't even read the damn books. I tried, but I literally couldn't.) I do like the idea of vampires, or anything supernatural, really. To me, it's interesting. Sexy, even, if you choose to write it that way. Dark. Mysterious. Dreadfully entertaining, and therefore lots of fun for me to write! _

_However, I am actually quite terrible with blood, so if I ever came across a vampire in real life I would most certainly not be able to romantasize that encounter once the fangs were out. I wouldn't be swooning, I'd probably be panicking, lol. Blood makes me remarkably skittish. _

_But I digress. As I stated from the start, this fic is helping me with my writer's block (which usually sprouts up when I have big things planned for my other stories, and put too much pressure on myself for wanting to execute them perfectly) so I'm going to keep at it on my off days. And I am incredibly appreciative to my readers who seem to understand that I am in a slump. I appreciate the reviews, the PM's I receive, the kind words of encouragement and the support that always seems to be there to back me up, whenever I log back on to Fanfiction. And I want you all to know that I see you, and I love you, and you are brilliant in every way ;)_

_I hope you can continue to enjoy my writing, even when I'm being self-indulgent with it. (And I gotta say, writing shorter chapters is making things a lot easier for me, too. It's making me wonder why the heck I've written up to 21,000 word chapters in the past... am I a masochist?)_

_CK_


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